zbrush AMBIENT OCCLUSION BAKING

Pros

  • If you’re going be painting in MARI, it gives an exporting to change the extension to UDIM.
  • Variety of options
  • Insanely Fast

CONS

  • Settings can be confusing and give you an unclean map.

BAKING TIME

  • Machine Specs: i7 6700K | 32 GB | Geforce 1070
  • Tile Resolution and Quantity: 2K - 4 Tiles
  • Baking time: Aprox. 2 minutes 

STEP 01

Import your mesh into Zbrush. Make sure to have it with enough subdivisions (4 million polys or more)

STEP 02

Go to Zplugin > Multi-Map Exporter.
On the screenshot below I highlighted the areas that you should pay more attention while adjusting your settings.

  1. Check the Ambient Occlusion Option
  2. Select the desired resolution
  3. Click on File Names and choose your UV tile ID format
  4. Here you can find the main settings for your Ambient Occlusion. The settings above are the ones I usually use, but it takes a lot of trial and error. Below you can see the information from the Zbrush Documentation website

Occlusion Intensity: This slider increases the Ambient Occlusion Intensity making the ambient occlusion areas larger and darker.
ScanDist: Scan Distance increases the distance of the secondary color in the Ambient Occlusion.
Aperture: Aperture affects the scale of the Ambient Occlusion, with smaller values giving a softer affect.

STEP 03

After adjusting the settings, just click on Create all maps. 
Here’s the Zbrush AO map preview in MARI.